Improving Time Management Skills It Doesn’T Matter What Our Job Is, Whether We’Re Senior Being Busy and Being Effective Are Not the Same Thing

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EFAP Newsletter for Human Resource and Occupational Health Professionals, Program Administrators, Supervisors, and Key Personnel In This Issue • What is time management? • Organizing your time • The 80/20 principle • Personal time management • Making a list • Team time management Volume 5 | Number 4

Improving Time Management Skills It doesn’t matter what our job is, whether we’re senior Being busy and being effective are not the same thing. executives or just beginning Being busy is spending your day bouncing from one our careers, we all share one activity to another and achieving very little. Being effective thing in common – a lack of is using your time wisely so you work smarter and get time. Improving time more done in less time. Great time management skills can management skills for make the difference between coping and excelling. everyone on your team – including yourself – is the In today’s 24/7, global economy, staying on top of shifting deadlines, key to improving productivity changing client and management demands, and ever-increasing workloads is a constant challenge. Add to these the frequent disruptions everyone and engagement. encounters on a daily basis – inefficient processes, email , phone calls, texts, instant messaging, meetings, and co-worker questions – and it’s a wonder you and your team ever get anything done. What is time management? • Provide a sense of achievement as you cross off completed tasks The most productive people manage their time exceptionally well because they focus on results, not When it comes to managers, they are responsible for activities. By doing so they1: organizing their time and they also need to be aware of how each member of their team is utilizing his or her time. • Meet deadlines This is no easy feat when everyone has different strengths • Produce quality work and weakness, as well as different ways of working and • Have excellent professional reputations communicating. Creating one cohesive, highly productive team can take a while, but the first step involves making • Have better work-life balance sure everyone improves their time management skills. • Experience less stress And that process begins at the top – with you. There are many ways to improve individual and collective time management skills, but one of the most effective is Personal time management by applying the 80/20 principle. Great time management skills are essential for everyone – but especially for managers who juggle the business The 80/20 principle priorities of senior management with the needs of their The 80/20 principle states that the relationship between clients and teams. output and input is unequal2. In other words, you achieve Here are some ways you can begin making the most approximately 80% of your results with just 20% of efficient use of your limited time. your efforts. You spend the rest of your time on those 9 disruptions – the meetings, emails, phone calls, etc. The • Don’t multitask : In order to get the most out of our key to increasing your effectiveness is to focus more on time, we feel the need to do several things at once, the 20% of your duties that actually produce results3. but we actually accomplish more when we focus on These are likely to be complex, demanding, time- one thing at a time. Multitasking actually hampers consuming tasks, but they are what should be at the top productivity because it takes much longer to finish of your daily to-do list. The rest of your responsibilities anything. should take a lower priority. • Learn to say no10: Politely decline to take on more work if you’re feeling overloaded or overwhelmed. Consult Making a list your to-do list to see if a new job will interfere with Time management begins with planning. Take some time your ability to complete existing priority work and each morning to make a list of tasks that require your meet deadlines. immediate attention4. Use the 80/20 rule – prioritize jobs • Set deadlines11. Set realistic deadlines and make sure that move your department forward. The advantages of a you stick to them. 5 to-do list are many . They: • Take breaks12: Your body needs regular breaks to • Keep you focused on your objectives prevent eye or muscle strain, headaches and leg cramps, and your mind needs short breaks to rest • Help you remember even the smallest task and refresh. Try not to eat lunch at your desk. You will • Help you prioritize what is more important or urgent be far more focused, creative, and able to cope with • Show the bigger picture stressful situations when you allow yourself to take • Save time regular, short breaks. • Keep you in control and on track • Create a record of what you’ve done and when

2 Volume 5, Number 4 Team time management delegation will not only free up your time but it will also help your employees develop. The key to getting a dispersed group to work together 14 and deliver projects on deadline is time management. As • Communicate clearly . Clear communication involves manager, you play a key role in ensuring your team uses careful listening, reading, speaking, and writing to available time effectively, and there are a few ways you interpret and convey information. A staff member can do this. coming back for further explanation of a task, who spends the morning trying to figure things out, or • Delegate intelligently13. Every member of your team does the job incorrectly because of poor instructions has his or her own unique strengths and weaknesses. is just wasting valuable time. Some may have abilities you lack and some may 15 need to develop certain skills. Take advantage of • Review processes . Hunting for information, finding experienced, highly skilled team members and help the right person to help with an issue, being invited those who may need to develop their talents. Smart to meetings that do not affect your department, and

Organizing your time Managers tend to be pulled in several directions at once, and meetings and phone calls can consume an entire day and leave little time for priorities. Use your online calendar to take control, as much as you are able, of your time. For example:

Schedule meetings in Schedule specific times to Schedule quiet time8. blocks6. return calls each day7. You need time to focus on your Meetings reduce the time you If you have administrative support, priority tasks and yet you want have for your own work to small have him or her tell callers when to have an open door policy for segments interspersed throughout to expect a return call from you. your staff. The trick is to find the day. They also invariably go This way you won’t be constantly the balance. Let your staff know over schedule, reducing your interrupted with phone calls that that when your door is closed it time to focus on larger projects. are not urgent and you can focus is because you are working on Schedule all your meeting in on your work. If you don’t have an something that requires your full blocks so that one begins right administrative assistant, use your concentration and you would after another. This helps meetings voice mail to say you will return appreciate not being interrupted, to start and end on time and calls at a certain time, or by the unless the matter is urgent. Let leaves the rest of day free for end of the business day. these same people know that important tasks. Don’t allow when your door is open they are latecomers to stall proceedings. most welcome to bring questions If someone is late, stay with the and concerns to you. Your staff agenda and do not recap the last will understand that you also have 10 or 20 minutes for their benefit. assigned tasks to accomplish and They’ll soon start being on time. deadlines to meet.

Volume 5 Number 4 3 having lengthy approval processes waste everyone’s time. Meet with staff AboutABOUT Vitality!!VITALITY! to find out where they think time is being wasted and where processes Vitality! is a newsletter publication of can be improved. Homewood Health™ and is intended for • Set deadlines or goals. When delegating tasks, set realistic deadlines and Human Resource and Occupational Health goals. Ask employees what other work they have and what needs to be Professionals, Program Administrators, done first. Be flexible to changing priorities. Employees who consistently Supervisors and Key Personnel. The fail to meet realistic, agreed to deadlines and/or goals may need help content can be re-used by Homewood improving their time management skills16. Health™ customers and business partners • Use technology17. Software is available that can help manage and/or track for the purposes of educating employees. projects. Find a system that works for you and your team, and stick to No other use is permitted without written it. Changing systems too often confuses people and wastes time with consent from Homewood Health™. everyone learning new software. Using online tracking will help you see the big picture, the status of each project, and where your intervention Homewood Health™ is may be needed. accredited by the Council on Accreditation • Be a role model. Some employees find it easy to meet multiple deadlines and can effectively project manage their own workloads – Others COMMENTS may struggle. As manager, you need to be the example of great time management skills, rarely missing deadlines, and always producing We’d like to know what you think about first-class work – all while juggling meetings, emails, phone calls, and Vitality!. Send comments and suggestions other tasks. It will be hard to get employee buy-in for improving time to:

management skills if your own are not exceptional. [email protected] • Provide training. Make time management workshops, webinars, and seminars available for staff, and encourage participation. Make sure Contact Us you attend these training opportunities with your staff as this will demonstrate the importance you place on time management. 1.800.663.1142

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There are many talents, abilities, and personality traits that make a great tty team leader. Superior time management skills are perhaps one of the most 1.888.384.1152 important. A manager who is able to manage his or her own time, manage international access their team’s time, and who gets things done without rushing and without placing unnecessary pressure on others will be effective. Managers who are 604.689.1717 (Call collect) able to accommodate changing deadlines and shifting priorities without homewoodhealth.com unduly disrupting the work flow of the entire department will reap the rewards of a more productive, more engaged, less stressed, and happier team.

1. Mind Tools 7. Smart Manager 13. Smart Manager 2. Investopedia 8. Smart Manager 14. Project Management Institute 3. About.com 9. Lifehack 15. Mind Tools 4. Entrepreneur 10. Lifehack 16. Houston Chronicle 5. University of Kent 11. Lifehack 17. Start Up Collective 6. Smart Manager 12. Lifehack